"My mum is a damn bitch," Josh goes off on yet another tyrant. I fight back a roll of my eyes and glance down at my phone. The guys had practice not long ago, preparing for Friday's game, and now he and I are at some restaurant across the street with Derek and Ali. Hannah is off with Ben again, and I'm clueless about where Shane is.

Josh goes into yet another story about how she made him lift some furniture with her new boyfriend, who had arms too small to lift a thing. Apparently, his body is sore from all that lifting, and she still made snarky remarks, as I would expect from her. She is the worst woman I have ever met, downgrading and pretentious.

"Oh, Josh, you're going to love the dress Megan got," Ali brings me back to earth once that conversation moves on. She grins ear to ear, hands clasped together.

"I already saw it," he murmurs, not even trying to sound amused. He ought to say that he needed an image to ensure it wasn't too revealing.

"Doesn't she look hot in it?" Ali tries to string him along. He hums with a nod, grabbing a chip to eat.

"I feel like Ben will have it out for me, bringing Hannah," Derek changes the subject with a snort of a laugh.

"She's been at his hip nearly every day and sleeping over so much," I nod with a slight giggle. "Better keep your hands to yourself, or he will kill you," I add jokingly.

"When have I ever tried to touch or flirt with you girls? You girls are like my sisters at this point. I hope she lets him know that before he tries to corner me," he chuckles, putting a hand through his brown hair.

"And there Shane is, making remarks about all three of us ending up with him," Ali snorts.

"Fucking prick," Josh mutters with an eye roll.

"Oh, we all know he's just messing around," I remind him, knowing that he is more than displeased by Ali's statement.

"Better watch Shane," Derek jokingly nods towards Josh. I take a sip of my pop, and my eyes lower to the black table. "He told me that when he hung out with Megs and Louis the other day, he mentioned being the one to end up with your girlfriend," Derek snorts in a laugh. The drink goes down the wrong pipe, and I choke, holding my hand over my face.

My heart is in my stomach, and I try to ignore the burn in my throat. I look up, and Josh's eyebrows are shot up, eyes focused on Derek. I'm not scared at all by him talking about Shane jokingly hitting on me. He's done that since day one, to the point that Josh doesn't care because it's all jokingly directed towards all three of us when around other people. A disguise or act, entrusted with just us three girls after he talked to us in private last year about his actual interests. But this...Derek mentioning Louis... I'm dead.

"You hung out with Louis," Josh's words make my blood turn to ice.

"And Shane," I remind him quickly. "Shane saw me and kept bugging me to grab lunch with them." Josh's eyes are on me, blaring with anger. He was stalking me the other day at the cafe to ensure that Louis wouldn't walk in. Derek is unknowingly adding fuel to his fire, and I will end up burned to a crisp.

"Oh, did you get to meet Louis' girlfriend, or whoever she is to him?" Ali asks, eyes on me. What? My lashes flutter a little before realising what she is doing. After revealing to her my history with Louis, she's putting in some sort of buffer so that Josh can't suspect that anything has ever happened between us.

"No," I clear my throat a little, shaking my head.

"Oh yeah, I was hoping she'd come to the game, but she couldn't. Guess we'll see her at the ball," Derek hums. Crap. My heart falls even more so. He is continuously digging a deeper grave for me. More than six feet under so that he can ensure I have no way out. Louis will go to the ball with some random girl, and questions will immediately arise. "Although, she isn't his girlfriend. It's just some friend that he's been doing things back and forth with," he adds, and I can breathe a little more.

"You're not all upset that he'll be bringing someone else," Josh gives a pointed look towards Ali, expecting her usual drooling over him.

"I'm dropping it. I don't think I'll ever get a chance with him, and I'm starting to talk a little more to this one guy from my art history lecture," she remarks back, eyes flickering to me momentarily. She's not talking to anyone. She would have told me that already. She's keeping her word that she's done obsessing over him because of my history. I honestly do love her.

"Really? You're focusing on one guy?" Derek teases. She laughs and slaps his arm. Her eyes meet mine for a moment, and I honestly just want to engulf her in a hug.

The door to the restaurant opens, and I watch as a couple of girls walk in, distracting all of us with laughter. My eyes catch onto that long auburn hair and those blue eyes that instantly land on this table. Actually, more so on Josh. Heather. Her eyes flicker to me, and she purses her lips tightly together as her eyes form into a hint of a glare.

"The queen of STDs," Ali jokes quietly. My eyes widen, and Derek bursts into a heavy laugh. I look at Ali, my eyes bulging. She just smiles happily before sipping at her drink. "What? She hates me, you and Hannah because we hang out with these three guys, and she wants to sleep around with all the players so badly. Hell, she probably had her hands all over Louis when she realised a new football player had joined the team."

"She did. He told Shane and me that the one night when she walked by us at practice," Derek nods off. My eyebrows raise slightly, and I lean in a little, wanting to know more. He wouldn't admit to finding anyone else attractive to me when we are doing whatever we are doing together. I'd love to know what he had to say, and it's almost like Derek knows I want to know. "He doesn't care about her or any of these girls that keep throwing their way at him. I really think he is strung up over this mystery girl that's a friend but sometimes more than a friend."

That is like music to my ears. I can almost feel myself about to burst into a smile, but I save myself by standing. "I'm gonna go use the restroom," I announce quickly, turning away. I make my way to the restroom, my cheeks beginning to hurt with this damn smile. After spending the night with him this weekend and hearing that, I am on a new level of high. The way I felt when things were new in both relationships with Nick and Josh, but even better.

I waste time and wash my hands, not even having to go. The door creaks open, and I glance into the mirror, frowning a little as Heather walks in with her head held high. There's a wicked smirk on her red-painted lips, and I shut off the faucet. It suddenly feels like an ambush.

"I'm surprised you weren't at the party Saturday," she beams. That fake smile with the devious glimmer in her eyes makes me wary. I grab a towel and dry my hands, shrugging simply.

"I couldn't care less about those parties," I state blandly. She and her constant need to get under my skin, along with Hannah and Ali, is old. Her jealousy of our group of friends and my boyfriend has always been clear as day. It's boring and tiring, and I don't care about wasting my breath on her. She had to be a bully or mean girl in primary and secondary school.

"Josh was a trip," she grins. For once, she breaks some sort of my barrier down. My face has fallen, and she can see it. He was with his mum, and I was at Louis'. What the hell is she on about?

"He wasn't even around here that night," I quirk an eyebrow. She hums with a pout to her lips before taking out her phone. I roll my eyes and start for the door, not in the mood for this. Only she stops me, holding the phone before me to show off a photo of him at a party, dated with that Saturday's date. He's in a black tee and jeans, beer in hand and laughing with a group of people. None of them being our group of friends.

"Oh, we also played a little game, just the two of us. He has a funny little birthmark. You know, the one shaped like a boot," her head falls to the side, a smile forming on her lips. My body runs cold at first and then hot. My muscles are rigid and tense. My body is about to either take the fall or lunge for her. That birthmark sits so far up his inner thigh that his boxers need to come off to see. He'll chew me out for even looking in the direction of someone else when he clearly has cheated on me with her.

I can't even be furious about that, considering I was in Louis' bed. But he physically and emotionally hurts me for something as little as another guy even trying to hit on me and for so much more. I suddenly can't breathe, and I just want my hands on her throat and his. She smirks, gloating because she finally got to one of us girls, the one who dates the popular centre forward of the football team.

I breathe slowly, and my lashes flutter as I try to steady myself. Her lips quickly turn into a frown with a small shake of my head and a shrug of my shoulder. "Hope you had fun."

"You're not mad?" she scoffs. I'm furious, this heat raging through me. I simply smile, putting on the little facade so that she has nothing over my head.

"I don't care."

"We slept together," she tries to reiterate the point that she had already made loud and clear. I let out a hint of a laugh and nod, turning away. "I'm serious," she huffs. I know she is, but I walk out. I make my way to the table in a silent rage. Fuming. I want to snap at him. Grab my drink and throw it in his face. Scream at him. Hit him the way that he has hit me over much less.

I sit down instead and stay quiet. A wave of silent, deadly anger fumes through me, and I could burst at any moment. I want to erupt.

"We just paid the bill," Derek makes me aware. I hum with a nod as he stands with Ali. "I'm about to go to bed."

"Me too. I've got a test for my first lecture," Ali nods a little, wrapping her hands around her hair and putting it into a loose ponytail.

"I'll walk her back and be at the flat soon," Josh nods off to him. Derek nods, and the two bid us goodbye. Only Josh looks at me, that fiery gaze sharp in his eyes. "News to me that you hung out with him the other night," he growls lowly. That darkened energy is clouding up the room, and my throat is tight. My eyes are hyper-focused on him, my heart picking up the pace with this anger despite the fear he is trying to instil. At this point, I'm no longer scared.

"News to me that you were with Heather, sleeping with her instead of being with your mum," I challenge back lowly, using this public space as my shield. For the quickest sliver of a moment, his dirty glare weakens but is replaced by even more darkness. "I don't want to be with you anymore," I state lowly, looking him dead in the eyes. I've never had the confidence to do this, but this need for someone else, in combination with Heather's remark, finalised it.

I stand up, my chair screeching loudly on the floor, before making my way out. My heart is pounding so hard that it's felt in my throat, and this rage is consuming me. I get out under the dark sky, only one car strolling by. I don't even see Ali or Derek. The door is heard behind me, slamming shut. I keep walking, an intensity building in my chest. That confidence has fallen deeply. He grabs my arm and forces me to face him, taking me back.

"You aren't fucking leaving me," he snaps. He's nearly the same height, but it feels like he is towering over me. I cannot speak or do anything with him so close, like a predator marking me. His grip tightens on my arm, and I let out a shaky breath as pain rips through me. Any tighter, and he could snap my bone. My mind is on Louis, wishing he'd somehow find us and stop this. But we're alone on this dark and empty street. "No one else wants you anyways. You leave me, and the only friends that you do have will turn on you. Do you really think Shane and Derek will betray me for you? Ali is a follower. She will follow their lead instead. Hannah is too busy with her new little boyfriend to give a damn about you. I'm the only person that wants you. You leave me, and you will lose them all too."

"That's not true," my voice wavers. That confidence has disappeared entirely. My bottom lip trembles, and his face nears mine. This negative energy is too much strain on my chest.

"Your own parents didn't even want you. Do you really think the others will even want to be around you after I tell them you left me? For someone else, you are fucking behind my back?" his words impale me, and I can't breathe. "You'll have no one."

"I'm not-"

"Whether you are or aren't, they'll believe me regardless. You will regret leaving me, and I will make sure of it," he threatens in a low growl. My eyes burn with this all too familiar ache, and I turn away. Only he grabs my face and forces me to look him dead in the eyes. My heart plummets, and my neck aches with pain from the sudden movement. "And I'm not stupid. Don't you think I know about you and Townsend? He might not have shown up at the cafe the other night, but I know that's his number on your phone under a fake name. You didn't think that I'd search the number myself to double-check?"

Everything just stops. I'm no longer breathing, and I can't even see straight. His death glare could make me collapse right to the ground. I had stored that number under a fake name before any of this started, just for the project alone. I've been terrified to even text or call it with Josh around. Now I'm cornered, and I can't even find it in me to tell him that it was for the project. I can't lie, and I can't tell the truth. I just can't say anything.

"Talk to him, ever again, and not only will I kill him, but you will be dead too."